The Hindu : New Delhi News : Delhi Congress list leaves many dissatisfied

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Oct 30, 2008
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

New Delhi

New Delhi

Delhi Congress list leaves many dissatisfied

Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar

‘No criteria has been followed in the selection process’

Poorvanchali people in Delhi do not find a mention in the list
The unofficial list also lacks any name of a Pahari settler from Uttarakhand

NEW DELHI: The presence of only one Poorvanchal leader and only four women among the 53 names approved in principle by the Congress for the upcoming Delhi Assembly elections has caused a lot of concern. Also, questions are being raised in the party circle about the absence of even a single person from Uttarakhand hills and the absence of any Sikh candidate from West Delhi.

Party workers who have been denied tickets and leaders whose candidates have not found their names in the first list are now charging that no criteria has been followed in the selection process and it has been influenced “personal patronage” and “loyalty quota”.

As for the “winning ability” being the deciding factor, these disgruntled party men are charging that it has really not been cared for.

The reasons for this anger are many. It is being said that while the Congress is aware of the influence of the Poorvanchali people in Delhi’s politics due to their large population, only the name of MLA Mahabal Mishra has been okayed for Dwarka and besides him people from this region do not find a mention in the list, just the way they were ignored at the time of the MCD elections in 2007 which the party had lost.

While the unofficial list also lacks any name of a Pahari settler from Uttarakhand, the list only has four women and this includes Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit. Going by the sex ratio, more women should have been given a chance, insist workers. Also, three of these women are contesting from the New Delhi parliamentary seat area and only Dipika Khullar finds a place outside it.

In West Delhi, that has a large Sikh population, the party has not ‘listed’ any Sikh candidate thus far. On the other hand, from the New Delhi parliamentary constituency that is represented by Ajay Maken, a Punjabi and has a large number of government colonies, as many as six Punjabis have been fielded.

In another surprising move, the Congress has chosen a Gujjar in Dayanand Chandila from Rajouri Garden and a Jat in Suresh Malik from Hari Nagar despite both these segments being Punjabi dominated.

Likewise, from Mundka, the native place of former Delhi Chief Minister and Jat leader Sahib Singh Verma of the BJP, the party is learnt to be toying with the idea of fielding P.C. Kaushik, a Brahmin who had won from Nangloi in 1998. This move has taken many by surprise as the seat is Jat dominated having almost 27 per cent population from the community and the BJP is likely to field Verma’s son Parvesh from there. Incidentally, the Congress had lost all four MCD wards here in 2007 and while three of them had gone to Jats one was a reserved seat.

The issue of a Jat not being fielded from Mundka is also gaining strength in the community that has over 20 per cent population in about 14 Assembly segments. Thus far the names of only Bijender Singh from Nangloi, Somesh Shokeen from Matiala and Vijay Singh Lochav from Bijwasan from the community have been approved. Community leaders insist that the way Gujjar leaders have been approved for tickets from five constituencies already – namely Chhattarpur, Tughlakabad, Badarpur, Patparganj and Vishwas Nagar – they too should get greater representation.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

New Delhi